MMA: “State of the Nation”

Within the past decade or so, the term ‘MMA’ (Mixed-Martial Arts) has
practically become a familiar household name, this is due mainly to
mainstream organizations like the juggernaut; Ultimate Fighting
Championships. The hugely successful UFC, along with its parent company; Zuffa
(LLC), has become a dominating multi-million dollar business thanks not
only to the publics ever-growing interest in MMA, but also because of the
foresight and persistence of its highly visible President Dana White.
White, feeling that the UFC is still a long way from becoming
mainstream, has said, “We’re pushing forward and trying to make this bigger
every year. We’re not sitting around patting ourselves on the back saying
that 2007 was great. We’re already working on what we’re going to do in
2009. We’re getting there. The sport and the athletes were denied for
so long and we got to the point where it couldn’t be denied anymore.
Like I always say, we look at this thing in the long term. We’re not like
most boxing promoters who have tunnel vision, thinking it’s all about
the here and now or how much money can I make off it. The UFC is
investing into the future of this sport. We’re scouring the earth to find the
greatest talent in the sport and we’re doing everything we can to get
them into the UFC to provide them good exposure. That’s what we do; we
build stars and put on good fights.”

The UFC has even been aggressively purchasing the rights to other
well-regarded MMA promotional companies, such as the Pride Fighting and the
short-lived WFA, among others. Some procrastinators complain that this
attempt at a monopoly may limit the overall pool of worthy competitors;
however, many argue that the UFC has the right to seek out and fairly
buy all of the competing companies they wish, providing that the
prospects agree to sell their shares willingly for the right price.

Still, a myriad of smaller and lower financed MMA organizations are
popping up almost overnight all across the world! There seems to be no end
to it as the Mixed-Martial Arts train keeps on rolling along and
gaining more steam. Due to the public’s unyielding fascination, the industry
has become a giant billion dollar business within only these past few
years.

“A Changing of Tides…”

As evidence of the increased revenues being generated by the MMA
industry, in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, many casinos are often ablaze with
high-dollar wagers being placed on the outcomes of the top televised
fights, even out producing most of the formally more high stakes boxing
matches there. More MMA merchandise is consistently on the rise too.
Nowadays, it appears that local martial arts supply stores seem to display
and sell more of the popular MMA clothing lines, featuring today’s
favorite championship fighters, than they do their actual standard
training gear.

Many parents now report that their kids no longer show any interest in
joining the still more accessible local street-corner classical martial
arts training schools, such as Tae Kwon Do or Karate, and are begging
them to be allowed to enroll into a slightly more comprehensive MMA
“Youth Program”.

Many slumping traditional martial arts schools, after witnessing the
turning of tides in the industry, have now gotten themselves aboard and
shifted gears in order to cash in on the rise of MMA. They’ve wisely
switched up or added new Mixed-Martial Arts classes within their weekly
schedules in an earnest attempt to capitalize on the publics changing
interests, or…are hacking away at it in order to simply enable their
schools to survive the changing times!

2007 even marked the induction of its first ever large scale MMA
(NAMMAE) Convention, which successfully took place in Anaheim, California,
USA. This landmark event was a huge undertaking for its promoters, who
have claimed that it indeed reached its estimated mark. The turnout was
big and the public response was favorable along with the participating
merchant vendor’s sales numbers. Because of this, there will be a second
NAMMAE to be held again in Anaheim this July of 2008!

“Looking into the Past…”

Although some die hard fans feel that the legendary Bruce Lee was the
catalyst of modern ‘Mixed-Martial Arts’ after actually coining that term
way back in the 1960’s, its clear that today’s big MMA stars have
brought it directly into the public eye via Cable-television and through
the internet in a way that Bruce Lee could never have predicted. Some of
the remaining original students of Lee’s have stated that they believe
that Bruce himself would be very happy and excited if he was still here
today and able to witness what has evolved within the Mixed-Martial
Arts community, saying he’d probably have somehow gotten himself involved
in its growth. After all, many do not know that Lee had told a student
of his that he’d planned to put on one of the very first Mixed-Martial
Arts events ever in Los Angeles, California; circa 1969-1970. However,
he soon returned to Hong Kong to begin filming one of the first of his
popular movies and decided to drop those plans entirely. It was long
after Bruce Lee’s untimely demise when interested parties finally began
to pick up on the possibly of Mixed-Martial Arts competitions becoming
a real money-making vehicle.

One may wonder, would today’s MMA have reached its current level of
popularity if there was no Cable-television or Pay-Per-View access to
actively put these types of fighting events so directly onto a TV screen in
the comfort of your own home? Would it have continued its rapid growth
like it has without the use of a computer and the internet to readily
seek it out? These questions may now be considered redundant as the
ever-increasing rise in Mixed-Martial Arts’ profile has reached near epic
proportions!

“Looking into the Future…”

Although, nowadays, the MMA industry has secured itself a solid
“foot-hold” on its future, it is somewhat understandable that upon the debut
of the UFC, because of its original “No-Holds-Barred” format, lack of
distinctive rules, clearly undefined weight-classes or even the absence
of standard regulations, the bouts were indeed more violent and bloody
at times. This may have generated much more opposition from certain
sanctioned governing parties from state to state. Be that as it may, there
will always be those steadfast critics who are ‘trigger happy’ enough
to voice their negative opinions, which now seem to have become stifled
by the hysteria generated by the many devoted fans of the sport.
Although those few remaining conservative entities are still refusing to back
down from their opposing point of view towards what they are calling
“barbaric” or overly brutal competitions, evidently, one cannot deny
what the majority of supporters and fans of the sport undoubtedly
desire…they want their MMA!